Binary Oppositions

From Metapedia

Binary structures and semiotic square of oppositions

Many systems of meaning are based on binary structures (masculine/ feminine; black/white; natural/artificial), two contrary conceptual categories that also entail or presuppose each other. One aspect of semiotic interpretation involves exposing the culturally arbitrary nature of this binary opposition and describing the deeper consequences of this structure throughout a culture. The mutual entailment of binary oppositions formed one of the starting points of Jacques Derrida's insights about deconstruction. If a system of mutually dependent signs are culturally constructed, then they can also be de-constructed by exposing the supressed logic of mutual entailment, whichh is frequently presented ideologically as natural, normal, or what goes without saying.

The expansion of binary logic into the "semiotic square" (derived from classical logic) was developed and popularised by A. J. Griemas.

On the semiotic square and logical square of oppositions.